2024-11-29
The Greens say the federal government must immediately suspend all mutual obligation requirements after it was revealed that the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations had been incorrectly cancelling some Centrelink payments.
The discovery by DEWR that they had incorrectly cancelled payments following a third financial penalty under the Targeted Compliance Framework prompted the department to pause these cancellations in July while it undertakes further inquiries. The Targeted Compliance Framework forms the foundation of mutual obligations.
Comments attributable to Greens Social Services spokesperson, Senator Penny Allman-Payne:
“The news today that DEWR has paused some payment suspensions because of their incorrect application should be the final nail in the coffin for the failed mutual obligations scheme.
“Income support recipients are already forced to survive on poverty payments that are among the lowest in the OECD. Robbing them of the meagre payments they rely on is unconscionable.
“Australia’s income support payments are among the lowest in the OECD, but even these tiny poverty payments can be taken away by unaccountable, profiteering job providers for the most inconsequential breaches.
“The privatised employment services system has produced nothing but failure and harm while enriching private providers who hound people for their payslips and push people into pointless training sessions.
“The Greens will continue to push for Work for the Dole and the Targeted Compliance Framework to be abolished, and for the provision of employment services to be returned to the Commonwealth.”